Shoe and heel construction



w. cLAuslNG SHOE AND* HEEL CONSTRUCTION June 15, 1943.

Filed Aug. 10, v1940 INVENToR: v WoHer Clauslng ATToRNFYs.

Patented June 15, 1943 cerise SHOE AND HEEL CONSTRUCTION Walter Clausing, Portsmouth, Ohio, assignor to Vulcan Corporation Application August 10, 1940, Serial No. 352,070

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a shoe construction wherein special means are provided for reinforcing the attachment of the heel to the shoe upper structure.

1t is of vital importance in the design and manufacture of high grade shoes that the union between the heel and the 'shoe upper structure be of high durability and permanence. Particularly is this true of ladies high heeled shoes. To attach a heel to the shoe proper and insure that it will remain in rigid engagement therewith throughout the severe service which the average shoe must withstand is a problem of the highest order and one which the present invention has met with a high degree of success.

It may be advantageous at this time to point out some of the reasons why the attachment of the heel to the shoe proper must be as rigid as possible. One of the requirementsof a finely made shoe is that it will maintain the trim appearance of a new shoe throughout its wear life. To maintain this appearance, the heel must show no looseness or tendency to pull away from the inter-engaging area of the shoe bottom. This requirement, together with the prevention of the complete disengagement of the heel from` the shoe resulting from abnormal shocks constitutes the goal of the Shoemaker. The heel is subjected from timevto time to severe abnormal shocks which tend to strip the heel entirely from the shoe. Such shocks are transmitted to the attaching surfaces with increased intensity substantially in proportion to the height of the heel. The most destructive shocks imposed upon the heel are the lateral shocks which tend to wrench the heel from the shoe. Such shocks are intensified at the heel union by reason of the action of the relatively long leverage arm which is substantially equal to the heel height,

The many types of attaching devices that have been experimented with have been found inef fective and impractical. The present invention relates to an eicient and rugged heel attaching member applied directly to the weakest point of the union, namely, its eXtreme rear portion. Heretofore, it has been found impossible to provide positive means to secure the rear marginal area of the shoe bottom to the heel. The difculty has been that of driving nails, screws or other fastening devices at this point. This difficulty arises from the fact that the heel at this point is quite shallow and will not permit the driving of attaching means of substantial length and holding power without breaking through the rear wall of the heel. As will ap:

pear hereinafter, the present invention ingeniously overcomes these difficulties in a direct and efficient manner.

The invention is embodied in a shoe comprising an upper structure and a heel desirably provided with a concaved seat. The heel is applied to and correctly positioned upon the shoe in its usual or in any suitable manner. It may be held in correct position upon the shoe prior to the final heeling operation by a temporary screw extending downward through the last upon which the shoe is built and into the heel. This screw serves to hold the heel in place while cement, which has been applied to the contacting surfaces, is allowed to harden. The last is then removed from the shoe andthe usual nails are driven downward through the heel portion of the shoe bottom and into the heel. Any other suitable procedure may be followed to prepare the shoe for the final heeling operation. A specially designed nail-like attaching member is then applied to reinforce the union between the heel and its upper Structure.

The nail-like attaching member, above referred to, accomplishes the highly desirable result of rigidly anchoring the extreme rear portion of the shoe bottom elements to the rear extremity of the heel seat. The attaching mem? b er is composed of a head portion and a shank portion. The lshank portion is provided with a pointed end to facilitate the driving thereof. The head of the attaching member is of substan# tial area,V the major portion of which is offset from the junction thereof with the shank. To apply the attaching member, the offset portion of its head is turned towardthe rearrextremity of the heel and the shank is driven downward through the heel portion of the shoe bottom at a point sufficiently removedrfrom the rear extremity of the heel to prevent the possibility of the shank breaking through the heel surface.v The head of the attaching member is so proportioned thatwhen the shank is driven at the point indicated, the offset portion thereof will reach back-V wardV to and clamp the extreme rear marginal portion of the shoe bottom to the extreme rear portion of the heel seat. As the shank of the attaching member is driven into the heel, its point whichl is of special construction will automatically anchor itself in the body of the heel, thus becoming rigidly lockeda'gainst removal or a tendency to loosen. vIt may also be desirable' to coat the 'shank with suitable cement to further increase its holding power. i

Particular embodiments of the invention will now be described in connection with the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a shoe embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line 2 2 Fig. l looking downward.

Fig. 3 is a detailed view illustrating the rst step in driving an attaching member.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the position of the shank of an attaching member before and after driving.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation illustrating a modified form of point for the shank thereof.

Fig. 7 is a detailed illustration showing the position which the shank of the attaching member will assume when it is driven deeply into the body of the heel.

Fig. 8 is a View illustrating the form of a recess to receive the shank of the attaching member.

The invention may be applied to any type of shoe. The shoe illustrated has an upper structure I8 having an outsole II and an insole I2. The expression upper structure as used herein, refers to the completed shoe before its heel is applied. A relatively high cuban heel i3 is attached to the upper structure and is provided with a channel I4 adapted to receive the rear margin of the short heel end of the outsole lI. Any suitable type of heel may, however, be used.

The upper structure Il! and the heel I3 are or may be manufactured according to standard practice. Upon completion, the upper structure and heel are ready to be united by the heeling operator, who applies cement to the heel seat and shoe bottom, after which the heel is clamped temporarily in its Correct position upon the shoe bottom in any suitable manner, such as by means of a temporary screw not illustrated, which is applied through an aperture provided for the purpose in the last. After the cement is hardened, the last is removed from the shoe and the conventional attaching means, such as the nails I are driven. v'It is the usual practice to drive five nails, four of which are grouped toward the front or breast portion of the heel seat as shown in Fig. 2 4of the drawing. A fth nail is driven in a central position laterally of the heel toward the rear of the heel seat. This fifth nail is not driven, since it is unnecessary to the heeling operation as executed in the practice of the present invention. In its place, a specially devised attaching member I6 is driven. The .attaching member is not necessarily situated at the point where the fifth nail would ordinarily be driven, blut its position is so calculated that its offset enlarged head I'I will reach back and overlie the extreme rear marginal portions of the shoe bottom elements, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The rear edge of the offset portion of the head Il is shaped to substantially conform to the curvature of the rear margin of the shoe bottom elements as shown in Fig. 2,. By thus shaping the head, it will overlie and clamp a substantial area of the shoe bottom elements and thus function effectively to clamp the heel to the shoe.

The attaching member I6 is provided with a shank i8, which may be round, square or of any suitable cross-sectional shape. The shank I8 is provided with a point I9, which is of special form. The point I9 is devised to automatically clinch itself as it is driven into the body of the heel. The form of the point may be as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 wherein the bottom end of the shank is cut diagonally to form a narrow angled tapering point, the tip of which lies upon the surface of the shank. Desirably, the end of the point I il is oppositely disposed to the offset portion of the head I7.

To facilitate the driving of the attaching member, a recess 20 is drilled or otherwise formed downward through the shoe bottom elements and into the heel, as shown in Fig. 9. In the parn ticular form of the invention shown in Figs, l and 3, a metallic plug 2l having a cone shaped top face 22 is placed in the bottom of the recess.

The attaching member I E is now driven by any suitable means, such as a plunger or hammer. The recess is of such size that the shank I 8 fits tightly therein. The manner in which the shank enters the recess is shown in Fig. 3. The path of the point I9 remains unchanged until it engages the cone shaped top of the plug 2l, at which time its tip is wedged to one side and forced outwardly and forwardly into the body of the heel. When the member is completely driven fiome, tlie point I9 is forced into a curved shape, as shown in Fig. 1, penetrating deeply into the heel and automatically clinching itself, thus lock ing the shank against withdrawal. Simultaneously with the driving of the shank, the head I? of the attaching member engages the shoe bottom elements and clamps them rigidly to the adjacent heel surface. To produce the desired degree of clinching, the length of the shank I8 and the depth of the recess must be properly determined. It is advantageous, although not essential, to use a special type of drill or tool which will produce a substantially fiat bottom recess. With a recess having a flat bottom, the flat bottom face of the plug 20 is prevented from penetrating deeper into the heel when it is en gaged by the shank of the attaching member.

A valuble feature of the invention resides in the manner in which the head I'I of the attaching member adjusts itself to the angular disposition and contour of the shoe bottom elements as it is driven completely home. The head of the attaching member is formed at right angles to the shank, thus favoring the driving operation by providing a solid, plumb driving surface against which the `driving tool may operate efficiently through the major portion of the driving operation. When the attaching member is driven completely home, however, the head conforms to the contour of the inter-engaging portions of the shoe bottom. Another feature of the construction of the head is found in its ability to conform smoothly to the shoe contour when driven and at the same time exert `a maximum clamping pressure thereon. This result is accomplished by tapering the thickness of the head from a maximum at the junction point of the shank therewith outwardly to a relatively thin peripheral edge. By so constructing the head, the area closely adjacent to the shank will be relatively stiff, and, consequently, when the head is driven down into its final position, the top surface thereof will not buckle out of shape due to the presence of the shank. If the head were of thin construction at this point, the relative flexing which takes place between the head and the shank would buckle and deform this portion o f the head. By making this portion of the head sufliciently rigid, the upper extremity of the shank will bend without distorting the head. The outer edges of the head not being under the distorting influence of the shank are made quite thin and thus the edges of the head t closely to the general level of the shoe bottom, thus assuring a smooth comfortable heel surface for the wearer of the shoe.

By carefully regulating the hardness of the metal out of which the attaching member is made, the attaching member when driven will be sufciently malleable to assume the desired contour of the heel bottom under the action of the driving tool, but will also 4be of suflicient hardness to effect a rigid clamping action between the shoe and heel.

The invention may assume the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this form of the invention, the head of the attaching member is essentially the same in construction. The construction of the shank of the attaching member, however, is slightly different and the plug 2|) is eliminated. In Fig. 4 the attaching member shank is provided with a point 23 of special form. The point 23, it will be observed, is formed by substantial- 1y reducing the metal of the shank preferably by cutting or swaging a concaved diagonal face 24 thereon. The tip of the point thus formed is quite exible. The resulting point is chisel-like in character, similar to a carpenters chisel,

which is also true of the shank point illustrated ,y

in Figs. 1 and 3. The point illustrated in Fig. 4, however, is more flexible than that shown in Fig. 1.

To apply this attaching member, a recess 25 is formed by means of a drill or other tool desirably having a point of correct form to produce a at bottom hole. The shank of the attaching member is then placed in the recess 25 and pushed downward until the tip ofV its point engages the outer periphery of the hole bottom. The attaching member is then driven completely home and as the point of the shank thereof enters the solid wood of the heel it is forced laterally forward into the body of the heel to assume the position shown in Fig. 5, thus clinching the shank and locking it in permanent position. The distortion of the point results from the fact that the point is positioned unsymmetrically with respect to a central median line of the shank. Thus, the angularly disposed face 24 of the shank functions as a wedge to force the point in the direction of its offset, while the main body of the shank is held against deflection by reason of its presence in the recess 25. During the progress of driving the shank the tip of the point is rst deflected and finally the whole point of the shank is forced forwardly and automatically clinches itself in the wood of the heel.

It is found desirable, but not essential, to provide the tool which forms the recess 25 with a peripherial lip at its cutting face to form a V- shaped depression at the periphery of the bottom of the recess. This V-shaped depression 26 is eifective to insure that the tip of the point 23 will be properly situated and positively laterally directed in its initial penetrative movement.

Another effective form for the point of the shank is illustrated in Fig. 7. The general shape of this point is similar to that shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The tip of the point, however, is made relatively blunt. In addition to the concaved diagonal face 2li, which is present also in the shank form shown in Fig. 4, the tip of the point shown in Fig. 7 has an additional diagonal face 21, which is disposed at a wider angle than the face 24 and extends a relatively short distance upward along the point, thus presenting a blunt tip. It has been determined that such a point when driven is deflected to a maximum degree,

thus producing a highly effective interlocking of the shank in the material of the heel.

-If it is desired to increase still further the ability of the shank of the attaching member to anchor itself against withdrawal, this can readily be accomplished by increasing the length of the shank and so proportioning the depth of the recess prepared to receive the shank with the length of the shank that when the latter is completely driven home it is caused to penetrate much deeper into the wood of the heel than the degree of penetration contemplated in the foregoing description. The result of using a shank 28 of increased length is illustrated in Fig. 8. When a shank of extra length is driven, its point will be deflected laterally and upon furtherdriving of the shank, the point will act as a pilot to cause the main portion of the shank to be bent to follow the same general direction followed by the point. Thus, the clinching actionA is carried back to the main portion of the attaching member shank, thereby increasing to a maximum, the clinching action initiated by the point of the shank. It will be apparent that this extra vholding power may be obtained without subjecting the heel to possible destruction from splitting, since' the shank when so driven, will always progress forward toward the breast of the heel, where the greatest volume of wood is found and consequently the greatest resistance to splitting.

In addition to the advantages above indicated, there are other advantages which accrue to both the manufacturer and wearer of the shoe which embodies the invention. To the manufacturer the adoption of this form of heeling aifords a very marked decrease in cost as compared to other special attaching devices, which many manufacturers have tried and have found to be unsuccessful. Furthermore the attaching member i6 may be manufactured at a very low cost and obviously the cost of the plug 20 is so low as to be practically negligible.

An important advantage of the invention resides in the fact that no modification of existing shoemaking methods or shoe construction is necessary to provide for the practice of the present invention. In spite of the extremely low cost, the strength of the union of the heel to the shoe has been found by actual test to be exceptionally high, especially at the back of the heel where heretofore attaching means have been so remotely situated as to be completely ineffective.

The resulting increased safety assured the wearer of a shoe embodying this invention is of the highest importance, while the maintenance of the trim appearance of a new shoe throughout its wear life by maintaining the original lines of the heel and arch constitutes a very desirable feature.

I claim:

1. In a shoe comprising an upper structure and a heel, a nail-like heel attaching member having a shank which is driven downward through the shoe bottom element adjacent the rearmost extremity thereof and into the heel, said shank having a relatively thin exible chisel shaped point of such construction that when the attaching member is driven, the point of the shank will automatically be forced into clinching position and an enlarged head on said attaching member which overlies the rearmost extremity of the heel portion of the shoe bottom and rigidly clamps it to the heel.

2. In a shoe comprising an upper structure and a heel, a nail-like heel attaching member having a shank driven downward through the rear extremity of the shoe bottom elements and into the heel, said attaching member having an enlarged head extending rearwardly from the shank to oVerlie the rear margin of the insole and clamp the rear extremity of the shoe to the heel, the point on said shank having its tip situated upon the front surface of said shank whereby when the heel attaching member is driven the point thereof will follow a curved path forwardly and automatically clinch itself in the body of the heel as said head rigidly clamps the heel portion of the shoe bottom to the heel.

3. In a shoe comprising an upper structure, a heel, a nail-like attaching member having a shank, a recess extending downward through the shoe bottom elements and into the seat of the heel adjacent its rear extremity to tightly receive said shank having its tip situated upon the forward surface of the shank, whereby when said shank is driven, it will penetrate beyond the depth of said recess and clinch itself in the body of the heel and an enlarged head on said attaching member overlying the rear margin of the heel portion of the shoe and rigidly clamping it to the heel.

4. In a shoe comprising an upper structure, a heel, a nail-like heel attaching member having a shank, a recess in the seat of said heel adjacent its rear extremity to tightly receive said shank, said recess being of less depth than the shank length and having a depressed outer rim at its bottom, a point on said shank offset from a median longitudinal line and positioned to direct the tip of the point of the shank into said depressed rim of the recess as the attaching member is driven, whereby the point of said shank is clinched in the body of the heel, and an enlarged head on said attaching member overlying the rear margin of the heel portion of the shoe bottom and rigidly clamping it to the heel.

5. In a shoe comprising an upper structure, a heel, a nail-like heel attaching member having a pointed shank, a recess in said heel adjacent the rear extremity of the seat thereof adapted to receive said shank, a metallic plug in the bottom of said recess acting to clinch the point of said shank in the body of the heel when the attaching member is driven, and an enlarged head on said attaching member offset rearwardly of said shank and overlying the rear margin of the heel portion of the shoe bottom to clamp it rigidly to the heel.

6. In a shoe comprising an upper structure, a heel, a recess in the heel adjacent its rear extremity, a nail-like heel attaching member having a shank tightly fitting said recess, a plug in said recess having a conical upper face, a point on said shank offset forwardly from a longitudinal median line through the shank and coacting with the conical face of said plug to cause the shank point to clinch itself in the body of the heel when the attaching member is driven, and an enlarged head on said attaching member overlying the rear margin of the heel portion of the shoe bottom and rigidly clamping it to the heel.

WALTER CLAUSING. 

